User blog:SWLover2/Why Xerin Hedashield is the Perfectly Written Villain
Introduction If someone were to ask me Potty’s plan and motivation from “The Prime Poppies”, I would find it pretty difficult to nail down what his reasons were for being the antagonist of the story. Same goes for the Lord of the Stone from the first “Before The SMSB” book, Dorphane Giles from the third one, Darth Tenebrous from “Ronald Potter and the Clash of Wills”, Karkamel from “The Super Babies: Book IV: An Ended Generation”, Miranda from “The Princess and the Lips”, and a number of other D.I.T. books. Now, please don’t take what I’m getting at here as a knock against D.I.T. specifically. The problem with ‘’generic villains’’ extends to pretty much every modern franchise that uses a malicious force as a plot device. It’s become something of a running joke that D. Isaac Thomas makes crap villains. Do you remember the villain’s name from “Deadpool?” Do you remember his motivation? Do you remember ‘’why’’ he was the wicked character? Whether it’s big-budget films like “Detective Pikachu” and “Justice League”, or books like “Inkheart” and “Eragon”, modern literature and cinema have, in my opinion, dropped the priority of giving us an unstoppable, yet understandable force for the heroes to contest with (with a few exceptions, like Claude Frollo, Kaecilius, Syndrome, and Larry the Debaser). These examples, good and bad, raises the question: what makes a good villain? To answer this, I’m going to explain the general structure of a hero’s journey tale. The unlikely hero (Luke Skywalker, Doctor Strange, Katniss Everdeen), reluctantly tasked with being a force for good (his aunt and uncle, his hands, the Reaping), discovers a special power (the Force, the Mystic Arts, the Mockingjay) and must use it curb an evildoer with unfavorable intentions (Darth Sidious, Dormammu, President Snow). Basic as this may sound, when you look at any story and strip away the side plots, this is always what you get. After all, if the hero didn’t try and stop the villain, the world would probably have ended dozens of times by now. While it is important to make the hero relatable and likable, it is therefore important to focus on what makes the villain. The unfavorable intent is almost always the theft of riches (Inspector Gadget), the usurping of power (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), and/or the vindictive slaughter of innocents (Guardians of the Galaxy). So there really isn’t much room for originality here either. Where the originality is essential, then, is what lies behind the villain’s malice. What pushes the villain towards committing these insane acts and why do they feel like it’s okay to carry them out? Too often, we get too much of the villain’s means and never much of the ends. If a book/film doesn’t explore why a villain is evil, then they’re just bullying for the sake of being bullies. (Ask Pixar - Hopper, Randall, Zurg, Muntz, AUTO, the list goes on.) And without explaining the motives behind the villains, the reader/audience will just view them as an empty bully waiting to be taught a lesson. What therefore constitutes well-written villains is that they must not just be reprobates waiting for justice. They must be a force only the heroes can stop. They must be relatable and sympathetic, and while we don’t have to agree with them, we should at least know where they’re coming from. The best villains of all become the heroes of their stories when you look at it from their eyes. And as much as I love D. Isaac Thomas, I know that until recently villains were not exactly his strong suit. In “Across the Portal”, Thomas seems to have taken everything he’s heard to heart and provided us with a perfect antagonist in the form of the Supreme Leader of the Third Order, Xerin Hedashield. Now, this is a bold claim, and you’re probably wondering, What’s this crazy D.I.T. fanatic doing on blog in the first place? But stick with me, and I hope I can convince you that my claim is not an overstatement. Before Across the Portal: Intuition, I hated Xerin. Not her face, she's actually kind of sexy. But it seemed like she sat on her protruding ass and let others do all her work for her while she kept her hands clean, like she was the Eye of Sauron of Across the Portal. It seemed like other people, like Darth Mutialatus and the Captain, were hustling to get shit done and Xerin finally decided she was bored of staying home and playing computer games. It seemed like Xerin was set to be another generic bad guy/satanic temptress/embodiment of evil like Dorphane Giles, somebody who wanted something really badly. But D. Isaac Thomas made up for it by crafting a character with a full range of emotion and clearly portrayed motives, and it goes without saying she is by far the best thing about this Star Wars fanfiction. (Sorry Victoria!) She is not just the evil force in the story, she is the main character in her own right. On both keyboard and paper, Xerin is a triumph of writing and illustration, and there are five reasons why I name her the perfect villain. 1. Xerin is not your typical Sith Lord. Xerin is an extremely unique girl, but first off, what kind of “Star Wars” villains have we become used to? Throughout the movies, we have two primary villain types: first, villains such as the shapeshifter Zam Wesell, the politician Nute Gunray, and the gangster Jabba the Hutt, who do the things they do to obtain two things: popularity and riches. These villains are two-dimensional characters who don’t care about anybody so long as status and wealth is acquired, and are willing to kill for their far-reaching goals. Their demeanors are thuggish and their dress is primitive. The second type consists of villains such as Darth Sidious, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Supreme Leader Snoke, who, like many of their followers, their only development is that they desire power and will destroy entire planets should it bring them closer to their will to control all life. Their demeanors are satanic and their dress is dark, albeit conventional. Xerin wants the same thing as the second villain type. However, she is nothing like the villains mentioned before. She has tender muscles, soft, smooth skin, and a large protruding stomach that’s been the butt of a lot of pregnant jokes and kinky jokes, and her dress is unconventional and often skimpy and sensual, which stands in stark contrast to the slender and muscular “Star Wars” villains in bodysuits and robes that we’ve become used to, Jabba the Hutt aside. More importantly, Xerin has a different guiding principle. It goes to show that an important character in a fanfiction doesn’t always need to be met with anxiety; they can be even better. Xerin does not seek power for power’s sake, but to save the galaxy and in her mind she has the strength of will to do what is right. In some ways, it can be even better under her rule, which leads to... 2. Xerin’s ends actually make sense. This was a stunning aspect of Xerin Hedashield and most people who read all three novels seem to agree with me. To summarize, Xerin seeks to replace the Galactic Republic with the Third Order, so she can become the unchallenged dictator of the galaxy. That way, she can do a better job than the Republic’s been doing. When we first hear about her in the first two books of the trilogy, she comes across as another expendable antagonist that deserves to get her ass whooped by the Jedi. But through brilliant uses of flashbacks, her interactions with the deuteragonist, and logical exposition exploding in “Intuition”, you realize Xerin is not just bringing ruin for the sake of ruin. She is ravaging the Republic because she does not want to see the galaxy destroyed further. She seeks to save it. As horrible as a means to political effectiveness as this is, Xerin does have a point. Agree or not, she makes a compelling case for the government being far more concerned about controlling the affairs of the majority than protecting it from harm, but even so Xerin appears as a narcissistic absolutist who thinks the ends justify the means until we discover the underlying trauma that has clouded her judgment. Once we see and hear the story of Vrean being destroyed by the Republic’s selfishness, the reader can’t help but follow her logic. That, coupled with Xerin saving Tatooine by establishing a Third Order presence there, maniacally condones her ideals even further. In her mind, Xerin believes that if her methods can effectively save one planet, why can’t they save every planet? And when you think about it, she may even save many innocent people from politically-induced misery if her plans succeed on a galactic scale. Now obviously, skeptics can look at her plan and say, “B-b-but if she’s so charismatic and politically able, why can’t she just become a politician and help the Chancellor put things right, or maybe even become Chancellor herself and make revolutionary changes to the Republic without using violence? Why does she have to burn it instead of glue it back together?” Well, that leads to... 3. Xerin is flawed. This goes without saying, but all villains are flawed. (Duh.) To me, the best villains are understandable beings with complicated thoughts who are slaves to their imperfections. Despite me maintaining praise on the tall chubby elegant villainess for her plan, Xerin is no different. Although Xerin may truly see herself as a selfless and heroic realist, part of her aspirations stem in part from her own ego. Even before she harnesses the Power of Vato, Xerin does believe herself to be an inevitable force of nature. To make matters worse, she believes the galaxy will be instantaneously grateful for having their Republic crushed and replaced by her dictatorship, and the parallels between Xerin’s journey and real-world politics are undeniable. But here’s the shocker: Xerin believes she is right, and you don’t doubt it for a moment. If you put yourself in Xerin’s shoes, you’d doubtlessly see her as the heroine of her own story. A tormented girl who seeks vindication from seeing her family destroyed by a distracted government. I don’t really see her as the type of villain bent on total devastation and/or domination, which can be seen in characters like Ursula, Hela, Lord Voldemort, Steppenwolf, and Mr. Stupid NoHead. To me, Xerin is more of a misguided absolutist initiating a bold revolution. While she bears the character flaws of a delusional ego and a lazy lifestyle, Xerin lives in an ideal that she genuinely believes in. She’s willing to burn the government to its core to bring about her vision, even if it means the deaths of countless innocent people, under the principle of “the ends justify the means.” She will even destroy what she holds dear, which leads to the fourth subject... 4. Xerin suffers. A major issue with generic villains does not just stem from the fact that they are empty and nihilistic characters. Typically, villains who are generic do not sacrifice in pursuit of their goal. If a villain is not willing to make a sacrifice for their ends, then their evil plan, no matter how horrifying, lacks emotional weight. A villain with an evil plan can be menacing, don’t get me wrong, and has been shown with amazing villains like the Joker, the Beldam, and Sebastian Shaw. This kind of villain creates an unrelenting hatred from the audience and we strive to see them defeated by the hero. But to feel sympathetic towards them, the villain must be ready to make sacrifices in pursuit of their goal, even if the sacrifice is everything they hold dear. If I were to plot my emotional reactions to Xerin throughout the trilogy, the scale would go from “hatred” to “sympathy” with “understanding” being in the center. From the events of “Interference” and the first half of “Insurgence”, when Xerin makes Kristen uncomfortable by getting on B’en’s good side, gives them both vague information on purpose, orders the executions of two of her loyal followers for frustrating her, arrogantly proclaims her destiny to Darth Mutialatus, and subjects him to a barbaric torture method for letting Kristen and B’en go, there is little you can feel for this girl beside hatred. Building up with pivotal moments like Xerin’s act of mercy towards B’en after his attempt on her life, and her subsequent telepathic conversation with Kristen in “Intuition” where she begins to open up about her motives and her ideals regarding the difference between authorities ruling through dominance instead of guidance, the dial turns from “hatred” to “understanding” of her psyche. Xerin is so convinced that she’s right and Yoda is wrong that she is ready to give anything and everything to bring together the Third Order and make her fantasy a reality. She states this repeatedly throughout the book. And this is demonstrated in a beautiful emotional climax where Xerin is forced to sacrifice the Dark Tower, which houses all that she loves in its walls, in order to harness the Power of Vato. And in this way, the closest we can feel to sympathy for a murderous tyrant who makes everyone do her dirty work comes to fruition. After seeing what she is willing to give up for her… perceived destiny, after seeing that this demoness is capable of losing what she loves, it’s hard to cast aside the feelings you feel simply because Xerin is a bad guy. Xerin is a megalomaniac that, without question, deserves to be stamped out by the Jedi Order, but it’s hard not to feel empathy for her, even if it’s microscopic. I was floored on how some mind-blowing illustrations and an incredibly emotional and intricate story could make a young and physically wimpy warlord grounded and complex. Xerin’s willingness to do anything for her goals, even the annihilation of all she’s ever loved, confirms her place, in my view, as a perfectly written character, which makes the concluding scenes of all three books so peculiar and brilliant. 5. Xerin wins! It’s rare for a villain to succeed. It’s even rarer that when a villain wins, it instills a strange sense of calm. The last we see of her in all three books, all three scenes are what sets up Xerin as a transcendent villain, not just in the sci-fi genre, but in all of literature. Throughout the entire trilogy, the audience has gone through a turbulent spread of emotions towards Xerin. We’ve hated her guts, come to slowly understand her, perhaps even pitied her, and the trilogy circles around that repeatedly. When she finally devastates the Jedi Order, there’s no nuclear bomb to claim innocent lives. The deed is done, and there’s nothing the heroes can do about it, at least in the last nineteen pages of “Insurgence”. The ending when she and B’en reconcile is oddly unsettling. The events following Kristen’s escape and Der Erebolten’s siege leads to a number of weird feelings. For one, there’s the lingering feeling that Xerin has to die for what she’s done. But we remember the mercy and even love that she showed to B’en. We remember the foreshadowing of her ideals. In “Intuition”, it’s no different, but our feelings on the matter are far more extreme. We remember her goals came from an extremely real place. We remember that she’s lost her home, the only thing she’s ever loved. And both cases show this to the reader with minor gestures...including looks detailing all her pent-up emotions unleashed in the iconic threequel. Conclusion Thanks for reading my blog, I hope I’ve proved to you that Xerin Hedashield is the perfectly written villain. If you liked it, tell me what you think! And if you didn’t, we can always have a debate in the comments section. Category:Blog posts